First let's look at the better league, the one where the pitchers actually man-up and hit:
Most Surprising Team:
With all due respect to my beloved Mets, and them not being utterly terrible as many expected (and some hoped), the most surprising first half NL team has got to be the Pittsburgh Pirates, led by the young and talented Andrew McCutchen, who is an absolute stud and five-tool player. Pittsburgh is currently sitting in second place in the wide-open NL Central at 45-41, a mere 1.5 games back of the leader, the St. Louis Cardinals, who had a pretty good first half themselves despite being without their ace, Adam Wainwright, whom they lost in spring training to Tommy John surgery. But Pittsburgh just won't quit. The Pirates, who before the season were 200 to 1 underdogs to win the World Series (the worst odds in all of baseball, even worse than the Royals), according to Bodog.com, are performing so well despite a miniscule $46 million payroll, the 4th lowest in the league and 22.8% of the Yankees'.
Good for you, Pirates, good for you.
Part of me wants to say the Marlins, who currently sit 10 games under .500 after the way they started and began to look like contenders in the NL East, but it has got to be the Colorado Rockies. Colorado, who some, including myself, picked to represent the NL in the World Series, currently sits at 41-45, good for third in the NL West, 6.5 games behind the leading San Francisco Giants and 5 behind the surprise second-place team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Colorado has got to step up their pitching behind the suddenly bad, was-last-year-a-fluke Ubaldo Jimenez, who has quite simply just not cut it, especially for a supposed ace. Jimenez is a paltry 3-8 with a 4.39 ERA in 96.1 innings. After a Cy Young caliber 2010, Ubaldo, man, step it up.
Tsk tsk tsk.
First Half MVP:
Despite the obvious bias, there is no arguing this one. The first-half NL MVP is Jose Reyes. The guy has been downright filthy. I don't want to begin to imagine where the Mets would be without him at this point, but probably beginning a fire sale of the team, I would presume. Reyes currently leads the NL in batting average (.354), hits (124), triples (15), runs (65), at-bats-per-strikeout (13.5), and multi-hit games (41), while standing second in total bases (185) and stolen bases (30). The numbers speak for themselves, and nobody means more to their team right now than Jose Reyes, and the Mets need him now more than ever.
The man, the myth, the legend.
NL Cy Young:
With all due respect to Hamels and Halladay over in Philly, the first half Cy Young goes to another NL East pitcher, and one you would expect. That would be Jair Jurrjens of Atlanta. The man has been an animal, despite his short stint on the disabled list. Jurrjens currently sits at 11-3 with a 1.89 ERA, the lone pitcher with an ERA under 2.40. He is tied for the lead in wins with Halladay but his ERA is .55 lower. His strikeout numbers aren't as high as the Philadelphia duo, he only has 63 in 104.2 innings, but his stuff has been electric and other teams just simply can't score off him right now. Jurrjens has kept the Braves in the lead for the Wild Card, and in contention in the NL East, and he is my first-half NL Cy Young.
How awesome of a name is Jair Jurrjens?
Now over to the American League:
Most Surprising Team:
A few weeks ago it seemed as though this team was going to pull a Marlins and start tanking, but the Cleveland Indians still maintain a 1 game lead over the Tigers in the AL Central at 45-39. Before the season began, the Indians had the 2nd-worst odds to win the World Series behind our NL surprise Pirates. Cleveland was going off at 120 to 1, also according to bodog.com, and now sits atop the division, who woulda thunken? Cleveland ranks just ahead of Pittsburgh as far as payroll goes at $49.2 million, the fifth-lowest in the majors. Much of their success can be attributed to breakout years from shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, another awesome name, and pitcher Justin Masterson. Gotta love the small market teams succeeding!
Look at him, you can tell he knows his name is awesome. He's like yeah you know you wish your name was Asdrubal.
Most Disappointing Team:
About fifteen games into the season it looked as though this title would belong to the Red Sox, but after they woke up and caught fire they are more than okay. But the biggest disappointment through the first half has been the Minnesota Twins. The team most picked to win the Central, including myself, currently sits at 38-47, 7.5 games behind the leading Indians. Joe Mauer, their all-star catcher has been a hige disappointment when he's managed to be on the field batting only .223 in his 94 at-bats, which I know is a relatively small sample size, but is horrendous for a career .324 hitter. The Twins can only hope the Indians are a fluke and the Tigers don't run away with the division otherwise, come September, they'll be playing for nothing but bragging rights, which isn't exactly the greatest motivation.
AL MVP:
The one that I actually have right so far from my preseason picks (for complete list see first blog: 'Opening Day'). A guy who many worried would take a while adjusting to the American League and getting back in the swing of baseball activities in general after offseason shoulder surgery is Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzalez is absolutely raking for Boston hitting .348 (1st) with 16 HR, 59 runs scored (4th), 203 total bases (1st), 28 doubles (1st), 121 hits (1st), 75 RBIs (1st) a .405 On-Base % (3rd) and .583 Slugging % (3rd). He's basically doing to the AL what Jose Reyes is doing to the NL, obliterating it and each pitcher who stands in his way. If this is an adjustment to the AL, I don't want to see him at the top of his game, nor do Yankee fans.
Maybe Buddy the Elf was on to something with this smiling nonsense. See: Reyes, Jose.
AL Cy Young:
Now, this is where the hardest decision lies. If you go with Verlander, I won't fault you at all, but I think you have to go Jered Weaver right now. Weaver stands at 10-4 with a 1.92 ERA and 114 strikeouts in 131.1 innings. Verlander is 11-4 with a 2.24 ERA and 138 strikeouts in 143.1 innings. Opponents hit only .194 against Weaver, and .187 against Verlander. The tiebreaker for me right now is ERA, considering Jered's is .32 lower, but by the end of the year these guys will probably be even closer, as they both have demonstrated how dominate they really are so far in the first half. So give me Weaver... for now.
While trying to find a picture that had both Weaver and Verlander in it, this came up as a result. You're welcome.
So, in a nutshell those are our first-half superlatives. It's been a interesting first half of baseball and I'm anxious to see the second, with whatever developing story-lines emerge. And while baseball is great and all, PLEASE end this freakin lockout, NFL, you're killing me. Don't plan on seeing much of me if there is no football (which I know seems unlikely but I won't be comfortable until a deal is signed and in black and white), and if nobody hears from me after 2 weeks from when the season was supposed to start, please notify the police, just make sure it doesn't take 31 days, Casey Anthony (too soon?).
-TA
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